Christmas; Scratchies; It's Cold

Well, I see it's been a month since I've last made an entry. I, of course, blame the humans.

This picture was taken when we were visiting Tonia, at the vet. She's really nice to me. She thinks most German Shepherds are drama queens and evil, wicked, mean and nasty. But for some reason, she likes me! I'm glad about that, 'cause I'd be happy to lick her nose any old time. But I think my expression looks like "Wait, you want to do *what*!?"

Christmas was fun. We went down to jc's mom's house. On the way, we stopped by his office, which has a 14,000 square foot warehouse that's basically empty. I brought a tennis ball and had jc and Cindy throw it. I could get a good head of steam up running in there!

There's also a carpeted area up front that's about 60' by 60' with some old cubicle furniture stacked in the middle. jc was chasing me around, running in circles. He looked pretty silly, but we definitely had fun. I can really get some good high speed cornering going on that carpet. I just wish we could have brought Makeeta along. Maybe one weekend we'll all cruise down there and play for a couple hours.

When we got to Judith's (jc's mom), I met several people I didn't know. They were all very nice, and commented on what a handsome dog I am (I am!). I acted pretty cool about the whole thing, although I made jc hold my leash most of the time, just in case those kids got out of hand. A dog needs his person to protect him, as I'm told that if I take matters into my own paws (or teeth, as the case may be), Bad Things could happen. I was more worried about getting stepped on than anything.

During dinner I had to stay in my crate. I wasn't too thrilled about that, as I could smell some great smells coming from the kitchen, and all the people and fun were out there. I sort of did try to eat a tube of yellow paint (Judith is an artist and a writer, and had an assortment of paint on a table that I managed to walk the crate close to). I only bit the edge of the tube, and I guess lucky for me it was non-toxic.

OK, now I would like to point out some of the silliness I am occasionally subjected to. Apparently, there's a tradition of some sort involving wearing silly hats, glasses, or what-have-you. This year, it was glasses. Everyone thought it would be cute if I were in the picture too, so here you have it: One embarrassed German Shepherd Dog, and his human. Please notice how my jaws, capable of exerting over 200 pounds per square inch, and my razor sharp teeth, are not locked around his neck.

I still have the itchies and scratchies (That might be a good name for a cartoon... The Itchy & Scratchy Show... nah. No one would watch it). I've been taking Prednisone, which has helped, but we still haven't figured out the underlying cause. You might remember that I mentioned that Makeeta and I both switched to Nutro, but the I&S's pre-dated that, I'm pretty sure. Well, I'm back on the Royal Canin, and we'll see if it goes away. My haunches aren't naked, but they still don't look as good as they should.

On the weather front, we've had several major cold snaps in the last month. Some nights have been down to 13F! I'm glad I have a nice warm home, and people to take care of me ("I have people!"). This morning it was 20F. Believe you me, when I went out, I was *quick* about it! (Did you get my joke? "Weather front"... heh heh!)

I think that about brings everything up to date. No major life-changing events (probably a good thing). Between these temperatures and the dark, haven't gotten any walking in. I'll have to be careful about that, don't want my human to get fat.

Oh, and it seems we have a new president. The first black president, too. Probably have a woman president before too long. But we truly won't have equality until we have a German Shepherd Dog for president. And you can bet your life we'd run this country better than any human! A bone in every dish! Two tennis balls in every garage! Yea, that's the ticket...

*woof*